No One NIght Stand
by VeronicaBarnes
Summary: What if Alexis blocked out or was forced to forget her teenaged romance with Julian Jerome?
1. Chapter 1

Derek was letting himself get distracted. Carly showing up at his door was unexpected. He knew she had an angle. After her blatant lie about catching the obviously gay male nurse cheating on her, he knew she had been nosing around at the docks. So he let her take him to dinner. And he had come face-to-face with one of the 3 people in this town, in this world he gave a damn about – Alexis – and had seen the hurt in her eyes. Hurt and disappointment. God, he would chew his own arm off to never see that look in her eyes again. Carly was not who he wanted, not who he needed. She was a distraction and a means to an end.

He could use a distraction. The boxing match with Franco. Dear God. What was he thinking? Letting Franco think he was interested in Carly? Letting anyone think he was interested in Carly? He was no more interested in her than she was in him. Carly wanted Franco. And Franco obviously wanted Carly. His getting Franco in the boxing ring was like a cat playing with a mouse right before killing it. Franco actually thought he had an upper hand at one point. It had distracted him. It had gotten him to stop thinking about Alexis for a few minutes.

He needed to stop thinking about her, stop dreaming about her, stop wondering what her family had done to her. But he had gotten to the point where being around Alexis, being alone with Alexis, scared him. Made him feel vulnerable, ready to confess all to her. 34-years later and those eyes could still burn a hole right through his skin into his soul. He had caught himself, more times than he could keep track of, having to stop himself from telling her, from grabbing her and kissing her. He had caught himself trying to make her remember him. Remember what they had meant to each other. That day she had shown up unexpectedly in his office had caused one too many dreams about him shouting at his receptionist that he was not to be disturbed, locking the door, and seducing her in his office, on top of his desk.

That had happened once, when she was 16 and he was 18. She snuck out, he picked her up, and she was helping him with Russian Literature. He would read it in English and Alexis would read it in Russian. When he was reading Tolstoy's _**Anna Karenina**_ and gotten to the part in Chapter 9, the part that still remained his favorite, "He knew she was there by the joy and terror that took possession of his heart. She stood talking to a lady at the other end of the lake. There seemed to be nothing striking in her dress or attitude, but it was as easy for Levin to recognize her in that crowd as to find a rose among nettles. Everything was lit up by her. She was the smile that brightened everything around."

Julian smiled as he remembered that night, wondering if that was the night they had conceived their daughter. He had not planned to take her there on top of his desk. He had looked at her, thinking that was exactly what she did for him – everything in his world was lit up by her and she brightened everything around - and he leaned in for a soft sweet kiss, but soon the intensity changed, and they could not get their clothes off fast enough. He had moved them from his desk to his bed, Leo Tolstoy and _**Anna Karenina**_ forgotten.

His roommate, William, was well-aware, when Alexis showed up, he was to get lost. Julian would give him money to go away when Alexis was around. William laughed once that his part-time job was getting lost when Julian was getting laid. And he had made the joke only once. William had promptly found Julian's forearm on his throat, his back against a wall. Julian made it very clear that no one was to speak about Alexis in any way that was not respectful. He would marry her one day. She would be the mother of his children. No one was about to argue with the son of a mob boss. And no one would ever speak of Alexis in anything less than glowing terms, lest Julian find out.

God, he had loved her. In that intense, young love kind of way. The kind of love that you feel from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. The kind that makes you physically ache when apart. She had loved him too. Their now grown daughter was living proof of that. He would never have taken her virginity otherwise. And she never would have given it to him. He hadn't been a player. That was never his thing. He was steadfastly loyal, faithful - a true one-woman man.

Contrary to what she was telling him now about their time together when they were young, whether she had been told the lie so many times that she now believed it herself, or if she had made up the story in order to try to protect him from her family, he wasn't sure, but it had not been just one time, or just one night. They had been a couple, very much in love. They hadn't been able to get enough of each other. They had fallen fast and they had fallen hard. The way most kids do, but their love, 34-years later he still thought, had been different from that of most teens. He smiled as he remembered how she felt, how she tasted, what it did to him when she would say his name, especially when she said it when her voice was husky with desire.

He had told her again about his family that night, after they had made love in his dorm room. Naked, her legs still wrapped around him, he had been afraid the knowledge of who his father was, who she thought he might be in a few years, would scare her, make her leave him. He knew then, if she had asked him to walk away from his family, he would have. She had kissed his bare chest then looked at him in the way she had that made him feel like he was drowning in her eyes, and said, "Julian, I know who you are. I know who your father is. I'll never believe that anyone who helped make you is a horrible person." Her eyes teared up as she continued, "My family, the people who raised me, the Cassadines, are horrible people. They are awful. Julian, they hate me. Well, my cousin, Stefan, doesn't hate me, but the rest of them do. I don't know why they even took me in after my parents died. I can't remember ever feeling like someone loved me, until you. You are the first person who ever loved me, really loved me. And I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone."

"I do love you. More than anything. I'd marry you tonight if you would say yes. I'd run away with you and marry you."

"I think we should finish school first. At least let me graduate from high school! Maybe get you through college. Let's get married here, at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth. It is so beautiful and this is where we met. When we get married, how many children do you think we should have?"

"I'll get married wherever you want, and I want as many children as you want, as you will give me. However many you want. But I want our first to be a girl. And I want her to look just like you."

"I think we should have a boy first. I always wanted an older brother to look out for me. Of course with you around, our daughters won't need a brother to look out for them," she had said beaming at him, and then they made love again.

Two kids in love talking, planning a future together, with absolutely no idea what the fates had in store for them. How in a matter of months they would be torn apart. Now he knew that losing her 34 years before had been the turning point. After a lifetime of wanting nothing to do with the Jerome family business, the seeds were planted, and a few years later, he embraced it. After being powerless to find her, powerless to help her, he wanted the power.

One night four months later they were supposed to meet, she had made a call to him, she needed to see him. No nothing was wrong, she promised him. In fact, she hoped that he might think it was good news, but she wanted to tell him in person, not over the phone. She told him that if she showed up with a suitcase of belongings he would know she was ready to run away with him. He thought maybe she had found out she would be able to graduate from high school early and go ahead and start college, putting their future plans within reach. Or maybe she had really finally decided to take him up on his offer to run away with her. Maybe instead of getting married within a year, no more than 2, they would be married by the end of the week. They had planned to meet at 6, it would be dark, easier for her to sneak out.

She never showed. She never called. He had been afraid she had been caught sneaking out and confined to her room. For two weeks he would wait for her where they would always meet. For two weeks he attempted to call, only to be hung up on when he asked for her. He wrote a letter, got William's girlfriend to address it so that it would look like female's handwriting instead of his own chicken scratch and using her address and the return address. The letter came back marked "Return to Sender!"

He found a classmate of hers in town one day a few weeks later and asked about her, he hoped casually to not arouse suspicions, and had been devastated when the girl said, "Her uncle came and got her about a month ago and took her back to Europe. I saw her get in a car with him when I was looking out my window. He had her by the arm, it looked like he was hurting her, she was crying."

He had called his father that night asking for help, telling his father everything he knew, begging for his help, "Please Papa, I love her. They abuse her. She wouldn't have just left unless they made her. She never wanted to see them again."

A few days later his father had shown up in Hanover at Dartmouth and told him she was dead. "Julian, my son, I know this hurts you, but you must forget her, she is not coming back. You must move on."

His father had kissed him on the cheek and left. And Julian had torn the dorm room apart. Maybe they had uncovered their plans to run away and killed her. Maybe they had made her so miserable that she had killed herself. Or maybe his father was lying. He drove to a bar where they had been a couple of months before with William and his girlfriend and a few others. Alexis had gotten a little drunk and a lot frisky.

He had gotten her to the car in the hopes they could make it back to his dorm room, but when he opened the door for her, she had grabbed his collar and said, "I don't want to wait to get back to your room." He sat at the bar drinking bourbon, at times smiling, at times tears filling his eyes, remembering her, and how much it had turned him on to have her be that aggressive with him that night. Remembering William knocking on the car's window, "Julian, we're taking off. Do hear me? We're leaving."

As he sat at the bar remembering her, missing her, mourning her, William and some other friends had shown up at the bar and gotten him to leave. As a couple of the other guys led him out he heard William telling the bartender, "His girlfriend is dead. She was in Europe with her family and he never got to tell her good-bye."

The next few weeks were a haze. He took his exams, finished his freshman year, and decided maybe he was finished at Dartmouth. He spent the next year in Europe looking for her, not believing his father. After a year, he went back to Dartmouth. If she came back, if she ever escaped them, she would surely come back there. Four years after she disappeared from his life, he was a Dartmouth graduate and he had given up hope. Her family made the news when they tried to freeze the world. She was right, she was always right, they were evil. And he knew if she was gone, it was their fault. Perhaps his father hadn't lied. If she was gone, he had to try to find a way move on, he couldn't stop living, as much as he wanted to do so, she wouldn't want him to give up because of her. So he applied to graduate school in New York and met Cheryl.

Now he knew. The news she thought might make him happy, was about their baby. Happy wouldn't have been the right word. Terrified, but ecstatic would have been what he would have felt if she had been able to tell him. They would have gone away that night and gotten married. He would have looked on in wonder at the changes their baby caused her body. He would have held her hair back while she threw up. He would have held her hand and encouraged her while she was in labor. And he would have cried tears of joy when Sam had taken her first breath and screamed to let the world know she had arrived.

Thirty-four years later his plans to take back his territory had brought Alexis, their daughter, and their grandson back into his life. Thank God for his plans, otherwise Danny might be dead. Without those plans he never would have come back to Port Charles. He wouldn't have met his daughter, their daughter. He might not have ever found Alexis again.

He couldn't very well ask Alexis what happened that made her forget everything. At least not yet. He would ask her one day. One day they both would know everything about each other and the past 34 years they were forced to spend apart.

He would reveal himself to her, in more ways than one, when he was ready, and when he knew she was ready. Until then, it was better and safer for Alexis, Sam, and Danny if Ava believed the one night stand version of events. But, so help him, he had lost them once, if Ava dared to even think about harming his family, her fate would be the same as Olivia's had been.

He walked to the safe and pulled out an old photo. William's girlfriend, Sarah, was a photographer, had taken it of them, and had given him the photo framed a couple of months after Alexis disappeared from his life. Sarah said, "I'm not sure if having this will help or hurt you, but….if you don't want it, if it hurts too much you can put it away."

The picture of them stayed out until he and Cheryl had gotten involved. He had pictures of Alexis that he kept in a safe. Those pictures had made the trip to Europe with him. Those pictures had gone everywhere with him for the past 34 years. He wasn't trying to forget Alexis. He couldn't have forgotten her even if he had wanted to forget her. He had kept those pictures for over 3 decades. They were his most treasured possessions. The only things he refused to leave behind or let go, he had taken them with him both times he "died".

She was, he knew, the love of his life. One day, hopefully one day soon, he would be able to tell her.


	2. Chapter 2

Alexis woke up in a cold sweat. The same damn dream had woken her up every night for a month. She was in the backseat of Julian Jerome's car, in the parking lot of that bar in Hanover, New Hampshire. In her dream, the way they were touching each other was not like strangers who had just met, a one night stand. In her dream, the way he was talking to her while they had sex was not like that of a bar pick up, a one night stand. How many one night stands would tell a girl she was beautiful and that he loved her while having sex with her?

Her oldest daughter, her first born, her Samantha had been conceived that night - in that car in that parking lot of that bar in Hanover, New Hampshire. Every night she woke up at the same point of the same dream – the friend, Julian Jerome's friend, knocking on the window, "Julian, we're taking off. Do hear me? We're leaving."

Alexis sighed. She had to be thinking about it and dreaming about it so much because of the effort, even being hypnotized, she had made to try to remember something about Sam's father, Danny's grandfather when that most precious little boy in the world had been sick. She got out of bed and walked over to her brief case and pulled out a picture she had gotten off of Google, not the same one Duke had shown her. Julian Jerome. He was handsome. He had kind eyes. It was hard to reconcile the Julian Jerome Duke had talked to her about with the Julian Jerome in the picture, the one she had been dreaming about, the one who had been in her thoughts more often than not over the past few weeks.

He, Julian Jerome, the now dead mob boss, had gotten her pregnant that night. Of course he wasn't a mob boss then. He was a college boy. A student at Dartmouth, in a storyline straight out of _**The Godfather**_. Only it was no storyline, it was her life, her daughter's life, her grandson's life. Without Julian Jerome there would be no Samantha McCall Morgan or Daniel Edward Morgan. No matter what other sins and crimes Julian Jerome committed in his short life, Samantha and Danny being here, being alive, being part of her family, absolved him of his prior acts in Alexis's eyes. She imagined, if asked, Bobbie Jones would say the same in regards to Lucas being his biological son. Lord knows she had overlooked Sonny's multitude of crimes and sins over the years because of Kristina. Why shouldn't she do the same with a long dead mobster who had proven to be the father of her first born? Was it possible for someone horrible, and Duke had made him sound horrible, help make wonderful people like Sam and Lucas?

A feeling of déjà vu washed over her. She felt like she had had a conversation about this with someone before, but with whom and when? Maybe it was a combination of lack of sleep and dreams getting confused in her head. Between her dreams about Julian Jerome, finding out Julian Jerome had fathered Sam, and her case involving Dante and LuLu, she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep and had been having lots of conversations about biological parents. She had court tomorrow. She had agreed to take LuLu and Dante's case out of loyalty to her middle daughter's half-brother. It was a case that no doubt they would lose. They had no biological ties to the baby, Maxie and Spinelli had not signed away their parental rights, and surrogacy contracts were not legal or valid in New York. This case was going to hurt a lot of people and she wished she had no part of it. She had signed on thinking it was going to be a simple adoption, and now she didn't feel like she could abandon her clients.

She got back in bed hoping sleep would overtake her. She closed her eyes and Carly, of all people, popped into her head, asking her about Derek and their relationship. Alexis had told her that there was absolutely nothing going on between Derek and her. Carly's response was, "That isn't what he said. He said you two had gotten close."

Alexis had certainly though they had gotten close and then found out he was Carly's dinner date. A couple of days later Carly had confided in her that she had only asked Derek to dinner to try to find out what Ava's deal was. Carly had seen the two of them – Ava and Derek - together, but it definitely didn't look romantic. Alexis didn't even want to think about Derek Wells except to be grateful to him for the rest of her life that he had saved Danny. She had no desire to take Carly's sloppy seconds, or whatever he would be. Carly had let it slip that she had no romantic interest in Derek Wells until Franco showed up to have dinner at the Metro Court. Franco?! Dear Lord, it was like the world had reversed course.

Alexis shook her head. She didn't even want to hazard to guess what was going on with Derek and Ava Jerome. Was Ava Jerome part of the Jerome crime family? If so, she was an idiot to not change her name before she had come to Port Charles. Maybe Ava and Derek had an arrangement? Maybe he was a type of sugar daddy to Ava? While Carly said that when she saw them to the docks they didn't seem to have a romantic relationship, they could have been having a lovers' quarrel. She had seen enough people at the end of a relationship or arrangement having "discussions" that made them seem like they had never been romantically involved. Carly said that Morgan was living with Ava now in her new penthouse. Carly had caught Ava and Morgan together, having sex. She could certainly understand why Carly had no desire to talk about it. She thought maybe Carly had killed Ava, but then she had seen Ava in town. KiKi had gone from Morgan's bed to Michael's bed and Carly and Sonny were apparently fine with that. There had been a time when KiKi and Ava both would have ended up at the bottom of the harbor for coming between Michael and Morgan. Between Carly and Sonny being A-OK with KiKI and Ava hurting their boys' relationship and Carly's interest in Franco, Alexis decided that the world had definitely reversed course.

Whatever had gone on between Derek and Ava Jerome and whatever was going on between Derek and Carly, she was glad she wasn't going to be in the middle of it. Derek was a good-looking, successful, educated, sophisticated man. How in the world he had gotten himself mixed up with Ava Jerome's soap opera and Carly's drama, she would never understand. He was a smart guy and Alexis hoped it wouldn't take long for Derek to catch onto Carly's game.

She shook her head again, trying to shake the thoughts of Ava and Derek and Carly and Derek out of her head. She thought back to when she was talking to Duke about Julian. Duke certainly didn't think much of Julian. Of course, she had to remember Duke was a little biased. There was history there and Alexis had only heard Duke's version of it, his side of the story. Duke had hardly lived the life of a monk. He had been in the mob too, had worked along side of Julian. While waiting in Kevin's office for her appointment to be hypnotized, she had read in an article in a psychology magazine a theory that you only hate someone, like Duke Lavery seemed to hate Julian Jerome, when you are too much like them, when you see yourself in them. Alexis knew there were at least two sides to every story, even the history of Julian Jerome and Duke Lavery. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle, but since he had been dead for over 20 years, she would never get to hear Julian's side.

She definitely needed to schedule another appointment with Kevin. Maybe Kevin could help her try to figure out why she was having these mixed up dreams about a man, a boy really, that she had known for a few hours one night 34 years ago. She read until she fell asleep.

She heard a voice saying, "He knew she was there by the joy and terror that took possession of his heart. She stood talking to a lady at the other end of the lake. There seemed to be nothing striking in her dress or attitude, but it was as easy for Levin to recognize her in that crowd as to find a rose among nettles. Everything was lit up by her. She was the smile that brightened everything around." Who was talking to her at this hour? Quoting _**Anna Karenina**_ to her when the entire house was asleep? It was her favorite part of that book, one of her favorite quotes of all time. She remembered dreaming when she was a teenager of having a man say that to her one day.

The voice continued, "That's what you are to me. That's what you do for me. Everything is lit up by you. You make everything around me brighter, happier. You make _me_ brighter, happier. I love you." She looked for the source of the voice. Julian Jerome was beside her, he leaned in closer, and kissed her.

She woke up with a start. What the hell? Was she losing her mind? Why was she dreaming about a man she had only known for a few hours, 34-years ago? A man who had been dead for almost 24 years? She would call Kevin first thing in the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

"Julian, I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

He went to embrace her, to tell her how happy he was, how much he loved her, how much he already loved their baby, and she vanished. She was gone. And he was left grasping at air, trying to find her.

He woke up with a start. The only dream worst than that one was the one when he couldn't save them. He couldn't save Alexis, Sam, and Danny from his enemies or from the Cassadines.

He turned on the lamp on the nightstand. He got out of bed and walked to the safe. He opened it and took out her pictures. Looking at her pictures never failed to calm him. He used to think the feeling of calm was from her whispering in his ear, "I'm ok. I'm safe. I love you." But now he knew that was just had been his way of coping. She hadn't been okay. She had been through hell. What kind of hell, what degree of hell, he didn't know yet. He would find out. And he would never forgive himself for abandoning her to that fate.

He had his most trusted researcher looking into Alexis Davis,  
Alexis Davidovitch, Natasha Alexandra Mikkosovna Cassadine, and any other name/alias she might have possibly gone by in her time on this planet. He would know her history the way he had known her when he was 18 – intimately, inside and out, in ways she didn't know herself.

He thought about the night they met, this time in Port Charles, at the Floating Rib. He had felt an immediate attraction and connection to her. She had grown and matured into a stunning woman. He thought back to that night. He knew she looked familiar, but in his heart and mind his Alexis had remained a 16-year-old girl. He had long ago given up hope that his Alexis was alive and he would find her, and then there she was. He thought back to being at the hospital after finding out he was a perfect match for their grandson. Hearing her version of events, what she could remember at least, from when their daughter had been conceived. Why had she focused on the night at the bar in the backseat of his car? Of all the nights, of all the times they had been together, why was that night the one in her story? Was that what she had told the Cassadines to protect him, the baby, and herself? The one that one made it seem that she had been nothing, meant nothing to him? And that he had meant nothing to her? Or was that the version she had been told over and over to make her forget him and what they had meant to each other?

Looking back 34-years, he got angry at himself for not realizing she was pregnant before she disappeared. There had been changes in her body, subtle changes, but changes he noticed. Her curves had gotten curvier. She had gotten a little more aggressive. Of course he was an 18-year-old kid at the time, he had just thought her breasts were just getting bigger, and what 18-year-old boy was going to question his girlfriend wanting more sex?

He knew he needed to see her. After becoming accustomed to being without her, the physical ache when he didn't see her was back, but so was the ache from being near her and not touching her. Derek Wells couldn't very well walk up to Alexis Davis, kiss her, back her up against a wall, and take her. As much as he wanted to do so every time he saw her, he couldn't touch her. If he touched her he would fall apart, and he might not let go. He thought about the times she had grabbed him in a hug to thank him for Danny. The last time he could almost hear his brain reminding his heart and his body, "You have to let her go. You can't hold onto her." Once she was back in his arms, back where she belonged, where she should have been for the past 34 years, he would never let her go.

He knew he had to get himself together as far as she was concerned. She was his weakness. Sam and Danny too, but Alexis, she was the key. One look at him when she was anywhere near by anyone who was any good at reading people and it would be all over. Thank God Ava believed Sam had been conceived during a one night stand, though he had almost lost his cool and blurted it out in the Metro Court when she had made the comment about him not remembering Alexis. It took him back to the time William had made the comment about his part-time job being getting lost so Julian could get laid when Alexis was there. No one would say anything about Alexis that could be deemed disrespectful.

He shook his head thinking about the times he had caught himself trying to jog her memory. Coming up behind her in Danny's hospital room? Putting his hand on the wall more or less trapping her between his body and the wall? How many times had he done that 34 years ago? Anytime they had the tiniest little argument, he would do that. He would back her against the wall, take her arms, gently hold them over her head against the wall, and get as close as he could without their lips touching. Then he would whisper, "You're right. I'm sorry. Friends?" and then he would kiss her. When he would pull away from the kiss, Alexis would always say, "Friends." Then she would look at him and say, "You make it absolutely impossible for me to stay mad at you for anything!"

At any point in the past few months he had been around her, he had tried to get her to remember. He may not have realized it, but he had wanted her to remember him on her own.

He hoped and prayed she would still find it impossible to be mad at him once she remembered. Would she be mad that he had stayed silent? Or would she appreciate that he thought she needed to remember on her own? God, how many times had he wanted to tell her? How many times had he almost told her?

As soon as she told him the story about William knocking on the car window when they were having sex in the car, he knew. He knew she hadn't died. He knew she was his Alexis. He had given up hope, but there she was. All he ever wanted, all he had ever loved.

She had asked him if he was all right. She told him he looked like he had seen a ghost. He had seen a ghost. A ghost of his past, present, and future. She was his everything.


	4. Chapter 4

He was getting antsy. He had to see her. Not her pictures from 34 years ago. He had to see her. Now. Alive. In the flesh. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was okay. He had been having too many nightmares in which she was anything but okay.

And to be perfectly honest with himself, he needed her to see he wasn't with Carly. The look in her eyes when she had seen him with Carly haunted him. The idea of him with Carly might be the one thing she couldn't forgive. If she could forgive him for abandoning her, for giving up on her.

What he had been able to learn about her life since she was taken from him broke his heart. Life as teen parents would not have been easy, but it would have been better, happier than what she and Sam had lived. He had been miserable, but nothing compared to them. Dear Lord, lesser people wouldn't have survived.

He wished he knew whether Victor had believed she was dead or if he had lied for whatever reason. The old bastard was dead, so he knew he would probably never know. He could only hope Alexis would remember. If she didn't, he needed to know if it would damage her for him to tell her, or if her reasons for blocking out those memories were simply to protect both of them and their baby from enemies who were now dead.

Everything he could find indicated the Cassadines, except for Alexis and her girls and Nikolas and his son, were now dead. Nikolas, he knew, would never hurt Alexis or Sam. Alexis was a grown woman, and had been reunited with their daughter a few years before, so even if the Cassadines who had separated them were still alive, they wouldn't be a danger to Alexis, Sam, or Danny. May God have mercy on anyone who posed a threat to his family - Alexis, Sam, and Danny - because he would not.

His mind wandered, as it had so often since she had re-entered his life to 34 years ago and meeting her. Alexis Davidovitch was her name then and Briarton-Griggs Academy was not as strict as she made it sound now. The girls were allowed out on weekends, but they had to earn the certain privileges, like leaving campus during the week and they could only leave campus certain nights of the week. Thus, sneaking out on nights when they were supposed to stay in became a sport to the girls. Alexis was one of the girls taking classes at Dartmouth too, so she was actually allowed off campus more often than other girls were.

Alexis being a very gifted student in Russian history, language, and literature she was allowed to take classes at Dartmouth. That was how they met, at Dartmouth in the summer. He had been desperate to get away from his family and had entered Dartmouth to take summer classes prior to his freshman year. She had been desperate to get away and stay away from her family, so she had also enrolled in summer classes. They met in one of the many Russian classes they took.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. And he had quickly discovered she was the smartest person he had ever met. He always thought the quote from _**The Catcher in the Rye**_, "I was half in love with her by the time we sat down," summed up their first meeting. He was in love with her within a matter of minutes. Everything she did made him fall more in love with her each and every time he was with her.

He smiled as he thought about the first time they held hands, the first time they kissed, and the first time they had sex. His mind flashed back to that night. In his dorm room, kissing, touching, "Alexis, we need to stop. I need to stop." He pulled away from her. "I need to stop kissing you. I need to stop touching you. And please, I need you to stop touching me. I need to get myself under control."

"What if I don't want to stop? Julian, I don't want to stop. I love you. I want to be with you."

"I don't want to hurt you. I love you more than I've ever loved anybody and I want to be with you, I just…you've never done it before and…"

She kissed him, "You're going to be my first and I don't want to wait anymore. I want you to be the first right now. I know. I've read, they told us at school. The other girls talk. I know it might hurt a little, at first, but I can't imagine you doing anything that would hurt me more than it would hurt if you turned me away."

That was all he needed to hear. The idea that telling her no would hurt her was all it had taken. He loved her and she loved him. He would have gone to the ends of the earth for her.

If they had never been forced apart, how different would life have been? He never would have joined the family business. They would have raised Sam. They never would have been in Port Charles. They would have had more babies after Sam. She told him once she wanted at least 2 girls and 2 boys. He had told her that as long as their children were happy and healthy, and she was happy and healthy, he didn't care if they had all girls or all boys. He was 18 and Alexis Davidovitch was all that mattered to him. She and their family would have been the center of his world.

He sighed. He needed to get out of the hotel room. He didn't want to go to the office. He sure didn't want to go to the restaurant/bar inside the hotel. The last thing he wanted was to run into Carly or Franco. If this Carly and Franco nonsense cost him his chance to be with his family, Jesus, he would be pissed at himself. This time he would have no one to blame but himself.

He walked in the cool fall air, attempting to clear his head of the memories, of the unknowns and the what-ifs, and found himself at the Floating Rib. He would go in for a drink, and he would say a prayer that his sleep would not be filled with dreams of what could have been if he had just taken her away when he had the chance before she had been forced to go back to Europe, or filled with nightmares of what might have been done to her when he had failed to protect her.

He walked into the Floating Rib and his eyes immediately fell on her. She was sitting at a table with a man. A man he didn't know. Damn it!

What did he expect? She had seen him meeting Carly for dinner. Carly had told her she had a date, then he had shown up and he and Carly both confirmed that they were having dinner together. In Alexis's mind, he was seeing Carly. In her mind he had probably done more than just have dinner with Carly. Carly had kissed him and he had kissed her back. He knew it had been childish. Carly had only kissed him to get to Franco. And he had kissed her back not caring about Franco, but to try to get Alexis out of his mind, to get the look in her eyes when she discovered he was Carly's date out of his mind.

Well, if he had to sit and watch her on a date with another man, it served him right. His first date, his first kiss since coming back to Port Charles wasn't with Alexis, the mother of his child, and the love of his life. He shuddered. Nope his first date and first kiss since coming back to Port Charles had been with Carly. God, for an Ivy League educated man, he sure was an idiot. Carly was a beautiful woman, but she wasn't in the same league as Alexis in any way, shape, or form.

He thought briefly about backing out of the Floating Rib, about turning around and leaving and just going back to his room, but decided against it. It had been a few days since he had seen Alexis, and his heart ached from not seeing her. He would see Alexis with another man the same way she had to see him with Carly. He could tell that night, that it hurt and disappointed her to see him with Carly, so he deserved this. He deserved this and so much more. He could have spent the last 34 years loving her, but he had let her family just take her back to Europe, abuse her, and steal their newborn daughter from her. There was no punishment in the world he didn't deserve for not finding her, for believing his father's lies about her being dead. He allowed her to be hurt, for their baby girl to be ripped away from her. He had made it possible for her to block all that they shared out of her memory by not being there when she needed him, when it counted. For that, he would never forgive himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Julian sat so he could see her but she couldn't see him unless she turned around, or got up to leave. He watched as the man she was with seemed to be having an animated conversation with her. He watched as Alexis threw her head back and laughed. He used to be able to make her laugh like that and wondered what made her laugh like that now. She always had the best laugh. It was contagious. He watched as the man laughed at something Alexis said. She had a way of saying things that left you feeling like you needed to hold on for dear life. He found her utterly fascinating as did, apparently, her companion for the evening. Julian was, for lack of a better term, miserable watching someone else making Alexis happy.

Now he felt even guiltier about his dalliance with Carly. Add that guilt with the guilt he felt for the lives they had lived apart from each other, all that she and Sam had been through in the past 34 years, and the fact he had the upper hand with her due to the fact he knew and remembered their history and she did not. He needed to go to confession. He wondered how many "Hail Marys" the past few months would cost him. He imagined the confessional, "Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It's been 24 years since my last confession. I found out the girl whose virginity I took 34 years ago, got pregnant, and that

she was probably brainwashed and abused into forgetting about me and our relationship. Our daughter was stolen from her and adopted by a con artist. I was a mob boss but I faked my death and went into the Witness Protection Program, and when I reemerged, I found all of this out. But I haven't told my daughter or her mother who I really am. And, by the way, I've killed a couple of people."

The poor priest would either retire on the spot or have a heart attack.

Having seen her with Danny, having seen her with Sam and Molly, Julian had no doubt that Alexis had been a wonderful mother and would have been a wonderful mother even at the young age of 16. He was so distracted watching Alexis and her date, that he didn't realize he had company at his table until her heard her voice.

"Hi Derek. Why are you here and not at the restaurant at the Metro Court? With Carly."

"Sam," He stood up to greet his daughter. "You're looking lovely. Would you care to join me?"

"Thanks. So instead of spending the evening with Carly, you're here watching my Mom having drinks with another man?"

"Sam, I'm not watching your mother do anything. I'm simply here having a drink."

"Cut the bull. I've been watching you watch her. As sick as Danny was when we met you, don't think it escaped me the way you look at her."

"Sam, I'm not….."

Sam sighed. "Derek, listen I don't know what you're doing with Carly, but there has been a lot more than just water that has gone under the bridge between Carly and both Mom and me. I like you. I will be grateful to you until my dying day because you saved Danny. But the Davis women, well, we're a team, and there is no one I respect more than my mother. I don't like you or anybody else trying to play games with her."

His heart filled with pride at their daughter's protectiveness of her mother. "Sam, I'm not trying to play games with your mother. There is nothing going on with Carly and me. Carly barged into my room, I stupidly insulted her to try to get rid of her and she asked me to go dinner. I said yes in an attempt to maybe get some inside information on Sonny for the paper. I have absolutely no romantic interest in Carly. And she has none in me, except in using me to make Franco jealous."

Sam shuddered, "Mom told me about the Carly and Franco thing. Carly let it slip the other day. Franco?! After what he did to Michael? And Jason? I mean I know she wouldn't care what he did to me, but …."

The hair on the back of his neck stood up, "What do you mean? What did he do to you?" He would kill Franco with his bare hands if he found out Franco had laid a finger on his daughter.

"It isn't really something I want to get into at the Floating Rib. Let's just say, if anyone kills Franco I will happily give that person an alibi. The fact that he and Jason are brothers was an accident of biology."

He and Carlos would be looking into Franco and the history between Sam and Franco. And if Julian found out that bastard had touched his daughter, the next beating Franco got, would not be in a boxing ring. And Franco would end up wishing he could paint a time machine to go back in time and prevent his own birth. A bullet would be too quick, too painless, and too easy for Franco if Sam had been hurt.

"Sam, has Franco threatened you, Danny, or your mother?"

"Not lately. Not since his brain tumor was removed." Sam sighed. "It is a long, not very happy story and the Floating Rib does not have enough tequila stocked for me to talk about it tonight."

Julian nodded. He didn't need to hear it from Sam. He could always find a way to make Franco talk. "I understand, but I hope you know if you ever feel like you, Danny, or your mother are being threatened by Franco or anybody else, if you will let me know, I will get one of my security details to watch out for any or all of you. Promise me, you will let me know."

Sam smiled, "I will. You have already done so much for us. You saved Danny. You don't have to continue coming to our rescue or trying to be our white knight."

"Sam, I was in the right place at the right time. It means more to me than you know that I was a match. Speaking of Danny, where is he?"

"He's with Molly. I needed to come meet Mom. We're hoping to find out some answers to some questions about my father."

"Your father?"

"Yes. Julian Jerome is my father. Or should I say he was my father? Either way, we found out I am for sure the daughter of a dead mobster. Julian Jerome. And we found out someone we know knew his father, my grandfather, pretty well."

"How did you find out for sure Julian Jerome is your father? You know someone who knew his father? Is that the man your mother is with? A man who knew your grandfather?" He tried to look closer to see if he recognized the man.

Sam's eyes sparkled, "How I know is another long story. Nope. The man mom is with wasn't even in town back then. I bet you wish you hadn't taken Carly up on her dinner invitation now, don't you? If you had gone to dinner with Mom instead of Carly, you might already know the answers to these questions. I need to let mom know I'm here. I'll see you soon?"

"Of course. I'd love to see you and Danny again soon. It was good to see you as always."

"Danny and I always look forward to seeing you." She started to walk off, then turned around with a smile and said, "Oh by the way, the man Mom is with is just a friend, but the next time you see her out with a man, you might not be so lucky, and it might not be just a friend." Sam added with a wink, "Don't wait too long. You could lose your chance at the best thing that could ever happen to you. If you haven't already."

He watched as his daughter went and joined her mother with a hug. Their daughter had busted him watching her mother. He was sure Sam was probably using some Davis girl secret code to tell Alexis she was being watched. They were going to gang up on him when the truth came out. Hell, they were probably ganging up on him now. He should have had 34 years of them ganging up on him. He tried to motion for the server so he could pay his tab. He needed to get out of there and think about his next move. That's when she walked in. Lucy Coe.

This night – watching Alexis with another man, getting the third degree from their daughter who had told him he might have blown his chance with her mother, and now seeing Lucy Coe – had turned into the high school reunion from hell.


	6. Chapter 6

The server came over and instead of getting his tab he ordered another bourbon and watched as Lucy Coe went over to the table where Sam and Alexis were sitting with the man and greeted them all.

Was Sam telling him the truth? Was Alexis simply having a drink with a friend who happened to be male while waiting for Lucy? Or was Sam working an angle? It was obvious she wanted him to ask Alexis out, but would she leave out an important detail about Alexis dating someone, or tell a little white lie about the status of her relationship with the man?

He thought about his conversation with Sam about Franco and sent a text to Carlos telling him he needed to see him ASAP. He told Carlos where he was. He had to find out about Franco. He felt his blood pressure rise at the thought that Franco had harmed Sam, Alexis, or Danny.

Franco was a complication that could be easily taken care of really. No one but Carly would miss him. And as far as romance went, she seemed to have the attention span of a gnat. Hell, if he reminded Ava that the value of Franco's "artwork" would rise exponentially after his death, she was likely to slit Franco's throat herself.

He got a reply from Carlos that he was on his way. In a way it was good that Sabrina had blown off Carlos for that. It gave what they were doing Carlos's undivided attention. In his estimation, Carlos was far too good for Sabrina.

Sam looked over at him and smiled, and leaned over and said something to her mother. He saw Alexis's body tense up. Sam must have said something about him, or at least he hoped so. Did he hope the mere mention of him made her tense up? Was that good?

Their daughter's words rang in his ears, "Don't wait too long. You could lose your chance at the best thing that could ever happen to you. If you haven't already."

Did he need to make his move with Alexis? He needed her in his corner. He needed her emotionally, mentally, and physically. 34 years was a long time to be apart. Maybe if they spent time together, more time outside of the hospital, together, then she would remember. Maybe being together, he would help her remember. Or should he just tell her? If she had blocked out their past together, or had been forced to forget, would it harm her to simply be told the truth?

Or did he still need to use Carly? Could she provide them with any useful information? She and Sonny weren't married, so she might not know anything about his current business practices. His job was to hurt Sonny as much as he could. Carly could be a means to that end. And he had already agreed to take Carly to Franco's art show. Jesus, he thought, the hole I'm digging for myself with Alexis just keeps on getting deeper. If it had been anybody else he'd say, "You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel."

Had he actually thought about having sex with Carly? Thank God he hadn't because from the sound of it, that might be more unforgiveable in Alexis and Sam's eyes than keeping the truth from them.

Carlos walked in and plopped down in a chair next to him. "Still keeping an eye on your girls?"

"As often as I can. I need you to find out what the hell Franco did to my daughter."

"Are we still talking about Samantha Morgan here or did you find out you have another kid you don't know about?"

"Samantha Morgan is my only child."

"As far as you know. You are a Jerome and we all know your father got around."

"That was my father. I am a one woman man."

"Is your one woman Carly or Alexis? Because I have only seen you with Carly lately."

"Carlos, just find out what the hell the history is between Franco and my family."

"And if I find something, do I need to tell you or just take care of him?"

"If you find something, I want to be the one that takes care of him."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why not? Sam is my daughter. Danny is my grandson. And Alexis is my…..she's Sam's mother and Danny's grandmother. That makes her my family. If he hurt my family, I hurt him. You know the rules."

Carlos nodded then said, "You are eventually going to have to choose between Carly or Alexis."

"Carlos, there is no choice"

"You know that, and I know that. But Alexis sees it as the rest of the world sees it. You are dating Carly. In her mind you've chosen Carly. Who is that guy with Alexis?"

"I don't know. Sam says they are just friends."

"You believe that? She's a beautiful woman. Men are going to want her. Men besides you."

"I know she's beautiful. She's brilliant. She's everything any man could ever want in a woman."

"And you're dating Carly?"

"You know why I am spending time with Carly."

"And while you are spending time Carly, Alexis is sending time with _him_."

"Carlos…"

"I am just pointing out that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. You spent 34 years missing her, thinking she was dead, and now that you have found her, you are wasting valuable time with Carly. It doesn't make sense. If Sabrina gave me another chance I wouldn't waste time with another woman."

"You just focus on finding out what the hell Franco did to my family. I'll focus on Alexis. Maybe you should try to meet someone new. Sabrina is engaged to that doctor. It is time you find a woman who will appreciate you."

"Sabrina is going to get her heart broken by that doctor. Just a feeling I have. You've done nothing but focus on Alexis the whole time we've been here. You've barely taken your eyes off of her since. You've been watching her with him the whole time."

Julian looked at Carlos, "Carlos, I am not watching Alexis. I am trying to make sure my family is okay. I need you to help me find out what Franco did to them."

"Well here they come so maybe now you can find out who he is."

Alexis and the man walked up to the table. Julian and Carlos stood up, "Alexis, you are looking as lovely as usual tonight" I don't believe you have met my operations manager, Carlos Rivera. Carlos this is Alexis Davis," Julian said.

Carlos held his hand out to shake Alexis's hand, "Alexis, it is nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you," he said as Julian shot him a look.

Alexis seemed not to notice the look Julian was giving Carlos, "Derek Wells, Carlos Rivera, this is Jasper Jacks, my very favorite ex-husband. Everyone calls him Jax. He is also Carly's ex-husband." She looked at Jax, "Derek is the man who owns the _**PC Press**_ and _**Crimson**_ now. He's the one Carly has been dating."


	7. Chapter 7

"He's the one Carly has been dating."

Julian could see out of the corner of his eye that Carlos was struggling not to start laughing at his predicament.

"Alexis, I am not dating Carly. She asked me to dinner. We had dinner once." He conveniently left out the breakfast they had had the day before and the quick lunch they had after his idiotic boxing match with Franco.

"Derek, it's nice to meet you. I understand you're the hero that saved Danny's life," Jax said. "I brought Joss back home after her visit with me and stuck around to spend time with my favorite ex-wife" he said as he squeezed Alexis's arm and smiled at her. "I now know it was a mistake to ever let her go."

Carlos, who had just taken a swig of his drink, started laughing and got choked when Jax made that comment. Julian glared at him and said, "You okay Carlos? Are you ready to go take care of that business we were discussing?"

"I'm fine and I'm on it." He looked at Alexis and Jax and said, "It was nice to meet you both. I've gotta go to work."

"Derek, you need to stop being such a slave driver with Carlos. The poor man needs to have a social life like you have."

"I'll keep that in mind, Alexis." Julian looked at them, "I need to head out too. I have some business I need to take care of and I need to be in the office when Carlos gets me the information I need. Mr. Jacks, it was nice to meet you. Alexis, it is always a pleasure to see you."

Julian and Carlos put money on the table to pay for their tab and walked out. They talked as they walked back in the direction of the Metro Court, "Am I supposed to go talk to Franco? Ask around? What? Why don't you just ask Sam or Alexis what happened?"

"I tried to ask Sam and she said it was too ling of a story and she didn't want to get into it in the middle of the Floating Rib. She also said the Floating Rib didn't have enough tequila stocked to tell me what happened."

"Do you think she is in immediate danger? Are she, Alexis, and Danny in danger now? If they are, I think we need to get our guys watching them, not doing research."

"Carlos, we have to be careful where they are concerned. Nobody can find out who they are to me, what they mean to me. Not right now. Sonny could use them against me. He would hurt them."

"Do you really think Corinthos would hurt your family? He's the guy who fathered Alexis's middle daughter."

"I am well aware he is the one who fathered Kristina Davis. Sonny has hurt his own family. He almost blew up Kristina Davis. He got his son Michael shot in the head. He shot his son, that cop, Dante Falconeri, in the chest. He would have no qualms about hurting the people I love, if he hurts the people he loves on a regular basis, like clockwork. The only kid of his he hasn't physically harmed is Morgan and you've seen for yourself the emotional damage he did to the kid. There used to be a code, and unless someone's wife or kid nosed where they shouldn't, unless they chose the life, you didn't touch them. Sonny is part of a crew who simply doesn't respect boundaries."

"You gotta tell them who you are. They need to hear it from you, after your meeting with Sonny yesterday, at the very least he knows Julian Jerome is NOT dead. I think he knows, I think he must have someone in his pocket and he knows who you are. You need to decide if you want Sonny be the one to tell Sam and Alexis who you are, or it you want them to hear it from you."

"Alexis still doesn't remember. She still thinks it was some random one night stand that resulted in her having Sam."

"Does it matter how Sam was conceived? All that is going to matter now is that you were the guy in New Hampshire. How would you even know what she remembers? When was the last time you spent any time with her? What was she going to tell you, 'Hey I remembered that I actually was in a relationship with Julian,' in between introducing you to her 'favorite ex-husband' and seeing you on a date with Carly? How are you going to feel if Alexis starts spending time with him? I'm telling you now, don't bark at me in 2 weeks if they are hot and heavy in a relationship when you have been wasting your time with Carly. And don't get pissy with me if Alexis and Sam don't want anything to do with you because Sonny Corinthos tells them you are Julian Jerome instead of them hearing it from you."

Julian closed his eyes. The last thing he wanted was his stupid dalliance with Carly to chase Alexis back into bed with Jasper Jacks. "I might know more if you hadn't barged in while she and Danny were in my office."

"I'm not your secretary. I don't know who is in your office or why if I'm not there when they get there and you don't tell me. And you might know everything if you would tell Alexis and Sam who you are. They are going to be hurt you've waited this long to tell them. What if you find out that Alexis remembered you 30 years ago but read about _Julian Jerome, the mobster_ and decided to stay away from you and to not tell you about Sam?"

"When the hell did you get so in-touch with the psychology of people and their inner most feelings?" The last thing he needed was his most reliable guy to get philosophical on him.

"Losing Sabrina has made me look at all of the mistakes I made with her. She is engaged to marry someone else. Someone who doesn't love her like she deserves to be loved."

Julian needed to change the subject. He knew Carlos was right but he wasn't ready. "Just come back to the office. We'll get some of the guys to keep their eyes on my family and we can look in the _**PC Press**_ files to see what the hell Franco did to my daughter."

"I think you need to let me deal with Franco. Carly is just one of the people who saw you in the boxing ring with him. You'll be one of the first people they talk to when he goes missing."

"Let's just find out what Franco did to my family."


	8. Chapter 8

He sat staring at the information he and Carlos had been able to get their hands on, angry tears piercing his eyes. Franco had raped Sam. Franco had raped his daughter. Instead of supporting her through it, Jason had made it all about him. Jason had wanted her to abort Danny on the off-chance he had been conceived during the rape. It had almost destroyed their marriage. Shortly after his very difficult birth, Heather Webber had kidnapped Danny and Sam had been told he was dead. Sam and Jason had not been back together with Danny as a family very long when Jason was killed.

Julian had killed people as part of the business, you couldn't be a kill-free mobster, but he had never derived pleasure from taking another person's life. Sometimes it just had to be done, to save yourself, or someone else. There was always a reason. There was definitely a reason this time. When I kill Franco and Heather, he thought, I think I might enjoy it. A lot.

"Are you okay? This is a lot to absorb. There's more here, but I think you need to wait to read it. Let me go through it." Carlos's voice snapped him out of his thoughts about how exactly he was going to kill them, that he wanted to make sure they would suffer. After all, his daughter had suffered in ways that the mere thought blinded him with rage. Rage directed at Heather and Franco.

None of this would have happened to their daughter if he had been able to get to Alexis when the school and her family kept them apart. He briefly wished his father wasn't dead just so he could ask him if he had knowingly lied to him about Alexis being dead. He knew if Victor was alive, and he had admitted to having lied to Julian all those years ago, after reading how his little girl had suffered because he hadn't been there for her, Julian would have killed the old man himself.

Julian stood up. "I am going to kill him! And as soon as I can find a way inside that damn Miscavige Institute, I'm killing Heather Webber for kidnapping Danny and making Sam think he was dead!"

Carlos stood up and faced his friend and employer, "You need to calm down. You are not leaving this office and going off half-cocked to find Franco. You'll make a mistake and lead the cops straight to you!"

"Carlos, he raped my daughter! I am not going to calm down about that!"

"I understand you are upset. Hell, she's not my daughter and I want to tear him from limb to limb too, but we have to sit down and think it through. We have to cover our bases. We cannot get sloppy. There is too much at stake, including your future with Alexis, Sam, and Danny. If you go to prison for killing Franco there is no future for you with your family. You just found them. After 34 years, you finally found Alexis. You won't be watching Danny grow-up, or making up for lost time with Alexis and Sam. Sit down and let's think this through."

"Carlos, he raped my daughter. She needed me and I wasn't there for her. I was making more money than I will ever be able to spend, but I wasn't where I should have been, where I needed to be."

""You didn't know about her. You had no idea you were a father or that Alexis was even alive. Anybody who knows you, knows you would have been there every single day for her if you had known Alexis was pregnant. If you had known about Sam before now, you would have been wrapped around her little finger. You would have been the best father. Alexis and Sam will know that too, as soon as you tell them who you really are."

"But I knew Alexis wasn't dead. I knew in my heart she wasn't. I knew I would have felt it if she had been."

"You need to stop. We both know she's a Cassadine and how evil they are. You were an 18-year-old kid. You would have been no match for them."

"They hated her. They hated Alexis. They wouldn't have tried to stop me. They would have been glad to get rid of her, to get rid of the person who shamed them by getting pregnant at 16."

"If you had a time machine you could go back and fix everything, but you don't. We have to deal with the hand we've been dealt. It is time to cross that bridge and tell them who you are and what they are to you. Before we do anything to Franco or Heather, you need to tell them who you are. You owe them that much."

Julian's head whipped around to look at Carlos. His right hand man knew him well, he knew by phrasing it that way. He nodded, "I do. I do owe them that much." Julian would tell them. He would tell them everything. Julian nodded again, "I'll tell them when I get through with that damn art show."

Carlos nodded back with a slight grin on his face, "You gonna tell Alexis first?"

"I think I need to tell her first. She is going to have a hard time believing she blocked out all but one night of our relationship. But I have to tell her everything about our past. I don't want her thinking for one more minute that it meant nothing to me. Not when she, when they, mean everything, when they are everything to me."

Carlos looked at him, "Are you sure you can handle being in the same room as Franco? Knowing what we know, can you be in the same room with him and not strangle him?"

"Strangling would be too quick and painless for him. He needs to suffer for what he did to my daughter. He has to pay for what he did to her."

Julian's phone buzzed, he shook his head as to get images out of him mind, then looked at his phone. "Morgan is on his way. Go easy on him. His parents have done a number on him, as have his brother and my niece. He and I will be listening to the bug he put in Sonny's office. Look at the rest of the information about Franco and Heather. We'll discuss how to best deal with them after Morgan leaves."

Carlos sat in the outer office going over the files they had been able to dig up on Franco and his crimes against Sam, and Heather and her crimes against Sam. Morgan and Julian sat in Julian's office and listened to the recording from the bug that had been placed Sonny's office a few days earlier.

Morgan and Julian sat and listened to Sonny and the DA put everything on the table about the DA being in Sonny's pocket. Julian put that on a flashdrive and instructed Morgan to deliver it to Scott Baldwin. He knew Baldwin would use it to win the election. If he also used it with the feds, that was up to Baldwin. Morgan left to deliver it and Carlos entered the office.

"Listen, I've gone over everything. Franco filmed that night."

"He filmed himself raping Sam?"

"There isn't an actual rape on the tape. If there was I probably would be back telling you I had gotten rid of him. You are going to have to talk to Sam, because from everything else I've dug up he just made her think she had been raped."

"He needs to die. Enough people have suffered because of him, including my daughter. Even if he did not physically rape her, mentally he did."

Carlos nodded. "Where'd Morgan go?"

"He went to deliver Baldwin's latest campaign strategy. We got Lazarus and Sonny on tape talking about Lazarus being in Sonny's pocket."

"So now Baldwin will be in yours."

"Yes, but that's not all. Our soon to be former DA somehow got his hands on my WSB WPP file and turned it over to Sonny."

"So he definitely knows who you are?"

"He does. I expect him to make his move against me soon. He isn't as patient as us. We'll keep listening and he will tell us exactly when."

"What if Morgan flips and tells him about the bug?"

"Carlos, you know me better than that. If working with the WSB taught me anything is one bug is never enough. Baldwin will use the information to get Lazarus to drop out. And once Sonny and the DA figure out we had ears in the room, Sonny will know Morgan is with us now. He'll find the bug. It is too obvious for him not to find. But there are others. I can get in and out of any building undetected and plant listening devices. That was part of what I did for the WSB."


	9. Chapter 9

_Don't really want to change the reveal that we saw, or what happened after, so I am jumping a little ahead, to Julian getting back to his suite after he left the gallery._

* * *

Julian walked into his suite, walked over the bar, and poured himself a glass of bourbon. He brought the glass to his mouth, but stopped before the glass touched his lips. He could still taste her kiss and he had no desire to change that. He put the glass down on the bar, and walked to the safe. He took out the pictures he had clung to as a lifeline for 34 years. He looked at his favorite picture from that night at the bar before they went to the car. He smiled with tears in his eyes as he stared at that picture. It showed them as they were then, eyes only for each other, looking at each other instead of the camera, while their friends smiled as the person taking the picture had commanded.

Tonight was one he would never forget. The daughter he had dreamed of calling him _Dad_ had done so tonight, but had done so with such disdain in her voice, such derision, voice dripping with such sarcasm, contempt, and hurt, that he was sure he had winced from the pain. He had always been a good poker player, but with Alexis, Sam, and Danny, his usual poker face was gone. They had the ability to tear down his carefully crafted façade with just one word, one look.

They had been able to do that before he knew who they were to him. Sam did it the first time she walked into his office to ask him to write the article about the donor drive for Danny. Alexis had done it later at the Floating Rib when she found out he had bumped the promised front page story to inside the paper. He never backed down from anybody, but those two had his number from the start. He had no idea why at the time and he sure wasn't able to explain it, not even to himself, but his connection to them seemed instinctual. As soon as he realized who they were to him, he realized he was right, it had been instinctual. The desire to protect them, the desire to be near them, the desire just to see them, was instinctual.

He thought about what had transpired in the past few hours. He, Carlos, and Ava had heard Sonny give the orders to kill him. Shawn would be waiting to kill him when he left the gallery. They, in turn, would have men waiting to kill Shawn before he could even get a shot off, every angle surrounding the gallery covered. He had no idea Sam and Alexis would be there. They were the last people he expected to show up at a showing of Franco's artwork. Alexis and Sam showing up was a game changer.

The truth was out, at least partially. Alexis and Sam knew he was Julian Jerome. They knew he was Sam's father. They didn't know she wasn't the result of one night stand, but was the product of two teenagers so in love they couldn't see straight. They didn't know he had looked for Alexis. He had literally looked all over the world for her even after being told she was dead. They didn't know how he prayed that he would just go to sleep one night and not wake up. That when he couldn't find her, that losing her, losing them, had fundamentally changed him. He set off for Europe to look for Alexis and had cut off all contact with his family, except his mother. He would call home when he knew no one else would be there just so his mother would know he was alive.

Alexis and Sam didn't know that he utterly worshipped them and that losing them all those years ago, feeling so helpless at the age of 18, had been what set things in motion for him to join his family's business. If he had known, if her family hadn't gotten to her before she had gotten the chance to see him and tell him, if Alexis would have told him on the phone that she was pregnant, he would have gone to her right away, he would have married her. He and Alexis would have raised Sam. He had no doubt that girl, his little girl, would have had him wrapped around her little finger before she had ever taken her first breath. God knows, Alexis had him wrapped around her finger in less than 60 seconds after they met.

He sighed and looked through the pictures of Alexis he had kept for 34 years. He could still feel her lips on his from their kiss. He had his work cut out to get back in their good graces. Alexis was so angry at him, she had gone completely mama grizzly on him about their daughter and grandson, and God help him, he hadn't been that turned on by a woman in decades. Alexis and Sam had been dragged into the situation with Sonny. Sam had provided him with the ultimate checkmate when she brought up the research to bank bone marrow for future use and that he agreed to go to the hospital for the next day. The whole time she was talking about it, he willed her to realize what she was doing and to just stop talking to Sonny.

Sonny not being exactly big-picture oriented or intelligent, completely missed the point that it was still in the research phase and that if Derek went and gave bone marrow tomorrow, that didn't mean it would be viable to be used if , God forbid, Danny needed it in a few years. He closed his eyes and said a prayer that Danny would live a long, healthy life now that his leukemia was in remission. Julian knew they could drain every drop of his blood out of him if it would save that little boy. Danny didn't need his marrow now. He was home and getting healthier every day. But sometime in the future, Danny might need it, and he had to be around to give it.

Alexis had lit into him and tried to walk away after making a comment about his, 'little tryst with Carly." That had made him spring into action, if nothing else, he could not let her leave that gallery thinking he felt anything for Carly. He grabbed her, he hoped not too roughly, to prevent her from leaving. He saw a spark in her eyes when he told her, "I don't want Carly. I never have." The wall went up almost as quickly as she jerked away from him. She knew now he had been using Carly to get information about Sonny and he could only hazard to guess that she thought he had been using her too. Alexis thought he had used his status as the man whose bone marrow had saved Danny to get close and to use them.

Standing there so close to her, he couldn't help himself, he kissed her. The way her hair felt in his hand as he pulled her to him. How her face felt in his hands. He had waited to kiss her again for 34 years. For 34 years she had invaded his dreams, and tonight she was briefly in his arms again. He had kissed her twice, pulled back and with her face in his hands, her eyes locked on his, he had told her, "I remember you," and kissed her again and knew he had to leave.

Then he walked away before he told her everything, before he could bare his soul. He left her with the words they always said to each other 34 years before when they had to part, "I'll see you soon." He had hoped saying that to her after their kiss, would trigger her memories. He hoped she would call after him as he walked away. He had left her with tears in her eyes, something he had sworn as a teenager he would never do.

His only comfort was that she hadn't only not pushed him away, she hadn't fought the kiss, she had kissed him back.

Julian had walked out of the gallery only to be met by Carlos, "The area is clear. Corinthos left and sent Butler home. Butler got to Kelly's about 30 minutes ago. Your daughter and Dr. Clay got to her place about 20 minutes ago. Alexis? "

Julian nodded, "Alexis is still in there. She's had a rough night. Make sure she gets home safely, but make sure she doesn't see you. I want security around Alexis, Sam, and Danny 24/7, but they are not to know."

Carlos nodded, "What do they know?"

Julian sighed, "They know I'm Julian Jerome. They know I'm Sam's father. They know about Morgan. And they know enough to guess we're after Sonny's territory. That was enough for tonight. When you are sure she's safe, come see me at the Metro Court."

"How are you doing?"

"Don't worry about me. What I got from them tonight, I deserved. I should have told Alexis as soon as I knew."

"You couldn't, you know that."

"I need to get out of here before Alexis comes out. Don't let her know you are following her."

"She won't have a clue. I've got this."

He couldn't remember the drive back to the Metro Court.

A knock at the door brought him out of his haze. He kept his hand on his gun as he walked to the door. He looked out the peephole and saw that it was Carlos. He opened the door, let Carlos in, and closed the door.

"How is she?" Julian asked

Carlos responded, "Alexis is home. Her property is secure. We have a bird's eye view on your family. No one will touch them."

Julian walked over to where the glass of bourbon still sat untouched and picked up the glass. He walked over and handed it to Carlos. "Carlos, we need to regroup."


End file.
